Guest Column: Tennessee is not the answer for revamping schools’ alternative education

District 205 wants to replace Page Park and Roosevelt Alternative High School with a for-profit corporation, Educational Services of America, based in Nashville, Tenn. Its program, Ombudsman Educational Services, takes education to a new level: It outsources it.

District 205 wants to replace Page Park and Roosevelt Alternative High School with a for-profit corporation, Educational Services of America, based in Nashville, Tenn. Its program, Ombudsman Educational Services, takes education to a new level: It outsources it.

The Ombudsman program uses computers to help graduate students. I imagine the district is partially attracted to Ombudsman for its technological appeal. Interim Superintendent Robert Willis told WREX that Ombudsman employees “support” but do not “teach” their students. Ombudsman “teachers” are in the room only to assist students through a computer-simulated learning experience.

Jeffrey Bils of the Chicago Tribune calls the Ombudsman program a “multistate business empire.” Higher enrollments mean higher profits. “Bulk discounts” are offered to big-spending customers — like RPS. Ombudsman generates millions of dollars annually, preying on at-risk populations. It is designed to make money, not nurture learning.

In 2009, the very city that houses its corporate headquarters — Nashville — decided to cut the $2.55 million program after only one year because it felt it could do it more efficiently in-house. We can, too. In fact, there is only one Ombudsman program in the entire state of Tennessee, and it’s not in Nashville. ESA’s hometown doesn’t even support Ombudsman.

Assistant Superintendent Matt Vosberg justifies the program from his experiences in South Beloit. He boasts an 80 percent graduation rate. For five seats. Roosevelt currently houses a population 100 times larger.

Five hundred twenty-five students attended Roosevelt last year, half of the 1,027 claimed by the district. These inflated numbers purposely misrepresent the attendance and success rate of our program. Roosevelt has an ethnically diverse population that is simultaneously gifted and challenged academically and socially. On consecutive years, our debate team has defeated ACE, Auburn and Guilford. We’ve had Illinois State Scholars and nationally recognized artists.

We serve teen parents, recovering addicts, abused, neglected and homeless students, chronic truants, students with full-time jobs, family caregivers, foster children, and students who face death, crime, relatives in prison, familial mental illness, and a host of other unimaginable circumstances daily. We have students who simply don’t learn well at a traditional school and are too dynamic to have their creativity or social needs quashed by hours in front of a computer.

Of the 525 students, 138 received an RPS diploma; 23 of those had special education accommodations. An additional 30 received a GED. Overall, 68 percent were either of Hispanic or African-American ethnicity. Some were the first high school grads in their family — ever. Last year, 168 people graduated from Roosevelt that would not have graduated otherwise.

According to the ISBE’s Interactive Report Card, the Rockford School District spent $6,586 per student on instruction in 2011. To compete with the Ombudsman proposal, Roosevelt would have to teach students for $3,050 per seat. This is less than half given to all other students who do not attend an alternative school. Is this equality?

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The district must be cautious in how it proceeds. Will Rockford create its own way of implementing technology and alternative education? Will Rockford let the School Board shortchange the most underrepresented students in the district? Will Rockford allow our schools to be run by an outside corporation with the profits blazing a trail straight back to Nashville? We choose Rockford, not Nashville.

RPS has guaranteed us teaching jobs next year. This is not about jobs. This is about doing what is right. If we don’t advocate for our at-risk students, who will?

Cathy Noga and Kyle Wolfe submitted this guest column on behalf of Roosevelt staff and students.